How to fix failed to solve: executor failed running: exit code: 1 in Docker

The 'executor failed running' message is a wrapper error. Scroll up in your build output to find the actual failure:

docker build --progress=plain -t myimage .

The --progress=plain flag shows detailed output including the exact command that failed and its error message.

Package managers like apt-get require confirmation by default. In Dockerfiles, always use non-interactive flags:

# For Debian/Ubuntu
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y package-name

# For Alpine
RUN apk add --no-cache package-name

# For yum/dnf
RUN yum install -y package-name

The -y flag automatically answers 'yes' to prompts. For apt-get, you can also set DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive.

Package names differ between distributions. A package might be named differently or not exist:

# Ubuntu/Debian
RUN apt-get install -y python3-pip

# Alpine (note: python3 not python)
RUN apk add --no-cache python3 py3-pip

# RHEL/CentOS
RUN dnf install -y python3-pip

Check your base image's package repository for correct package names.

Always update package lists before installing. Cached layers may have stale package information:

# Good practice
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
    package1 \
    package2 \
    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

# Bad - may fail with 'Unable to locate package'
RUN apt-get install -y package1

If builds fail intermittently with timeout errors, try:

# For pip installations
RUN pip install --default-timeout=100 package-name

# For npm
RUN npm install --fetch-timeout=300000

Also ensure your Docker daemon has proper network access. Check DNS settings and proxy configurations.

If you're using Docker Desktop, increase allocated resources:

1. Open Docker Desktop Settings
2. Go to Resources
3. Increase Memory (try 4GB or more)
4. Increase Disk image size if needed
5. Apply & Restart

For builds that compile code (npm install, pip install with C extensions), more memory is often needed.

If you see errors about 'Release file is not valid yet', your Docker VM's clock may be out of sync:

# On Docker Desktop for Mac/Windows, restart Docker Desktop

# On Linux with systemd
sudo systemctl restart docker

# Manually sync time in WSL2
sudo hwclock -s

This commonly occurs after the host machine sleeps or hibernates.

Cached layers can sometimes cause issues. Build without cache:

# Clear build cache and rebuild
docker builder prune -f
docker build --no-cache -t myimage .

# Or disable BuildKit temporarily
DOCKER_BUILDKIT=0 docker build -t myimage .

If the build succeeds without BuildKit, the issue may be BuildKit-specific.